ARMY, NAVY LAND PLAYERS ON THE NAGURSKI TROPHY WATCH LIST

The Football Writers Association of America released its 2017 Bronko Nagurski Trophy Preseason Watch List on Thursday. Army and Navy both had players listed among the 103 candidates on the list.

Alex Aukerman (USMA Photo)

Senior Army linebacker Alex Aukerman had 59 tackles including 15 for losses in 2016. Against Duke, he piled up an impressive 13 tackles. Aukerman, Greenwood, Ind. native, had eight tackles in Army’s Heart of Dallas Bowl in in December.

Micah Thomas (USNA Photo)

Navy Micah Thomas earned second team All-AAC honors for making 107 tackles. The Cedar Park, Texas native also had one sack and three tackles for loss. During the AAC Championship game Thomas had eight tackles.

The FWAA and the Charlotte Touchdown Club will announce five finalists for the 2017 Bronko Nagurski Trophy on Thurs., Nov. 16.

The Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner will be chosen from those five finalists. The FWAA All-America Committee, after voting input from the association’s full membership, selects a 26-man All-America Team and eventually the Nagurski Trophy finalists. Committee members, by individual ballot, select the winner they regard as the best defensive player in college football.

The annual Bronko Nagurski Trophy Banquet, presented by ACN, will be held on Mon., Dec. 4 at the Charlotte Convention Center. In addition to the 2017 Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner’s announcement, the banquet will also celebrate the recipient of the Bronko Nagurski Legends Award, sponsored by the CTC and Florida East Coast Railway. Notre Dame’s Ross Browner, a member of the FWAA’s 1976 and 1977 All-America Teams, the 1976 Outland Trophy winner and a College Football Hall of Famer, will be honored. Georgia head coach Kirby Smart will be the keynote speaker at the banquet.

The FWAA has chosen a National Defensive Player of the Year since 1993. In 1995, the FWAA named the award in honor of the legendary two-way player from the University of Minnesota. Nagurski dominated college football, then became a star for professional football’s Chicago Bears in the 1930s. Bronislaw “Bronko” Nagurski is a charter member of both the College Football and Pro Football Halls of Fame.